APC: Sylva Remains Our Bayelsa Guber Candidate

•We’ll step up campaign instead, Ganduje boasts 

•Ex-gov appeals sack, asks court to stay judgment execution 

•Our state doesn’t deserve serial deceiver, says Diri

Deji Elumoye, Adedayo Akinwale, Alex Enumah in Abuja and Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

The All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, said a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who was sacked Monday night by a federal High Court, Abuja, as unfit to be on the ballot again, remained its governorship candidate in the November 11, governorship  election in Bayelsa State.

Corroborating this, the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, has said the party leadership would not be swayed by the court ruling but instead step up campaigns ahead of the election in November.

Sylva, on his part, has immediately approached the Court of Appeal, Abuja, for an order reversing his sack., asking the court to stay judgment execution.

This, nonetheless, the Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has said what the state needed was an honest and sincere leader that was focused on its development and not a man widely known for deception.

However, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, in a statement said the clarification became imperative following the court decision that disqualified Sylva.

He said, “Against the backdrop of an Abuja Federal High Court decision that disqualified the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva, we wish to state categorically that Chief Sylva is and remains the Bayelsa State Governorship Candidate of our great party in the November 11, 2023 Governorship election.

“Our party and its candidate have duly instructed the legal team to appeal the said decision of the Federal High Court, diligently and expeditiously.”

The ruling party, therefore, urged its members, supporters, and residents of the state to remain calm and await the outcome of the appeal, saying it remained confident that it would prevail.

“With nothing to offer the Bayelsa electorate, following its lackluster performance as the ruling party, the jittery PDP in Bayelsa State has since resorted to mercenary lawsuits, underhand dealings and antics to distract and create confusion among the good people of the state,” Morka added.

He reiterated that the party’s governorship campaign flag-off would be held on Saturday, October 14, 2023, in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, and invited all stakeholders, party members, supporters, and the general public to join the winning campaign.

Hinting at the readiness of the party to appeal the court judgement, Ganduje, who spoke to newsmen after a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, described the judgment as unfortunate and democracy in action.

He affirmed the fact that the APC would approach the Appeal Court to set aside the ruling in the case instituted by “a party man who has no locus standi.”

His words: “Well, it’s unfortunate that judgment, but we can say that it is democracy in action. But we learned that the person, who took the issue to the court of law is not even qualified, because he did not contest with Sylva.

“Therefore, he’s not even qualified for him to take the issue to the court. However, we are appealing. We’re waiting for the judgment and then we appeal for calm on that issue.”

The former Kano State governor stressed that the party would not relent in its campaign for the governorship seat in Bayelsa State despite the distraction via the court ruling.

According to him, “Last two weeks I was in Bayelsa for two good days and I think they were ready and they’re still ready to win the election.

“Therefore, this is a little distraction anyway, but we will overcome it. We believe the appeal court will give us positive judgment but that will not stop us from making arrangement for the forthcoming election, which is coming up on 11th November 2023.”

But Sylva, through his lawyer, Dr Ahmed Raji, SAN, has filed a stay of execution of the judgment of Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which barred him from participating in the governorship poll slated for next month.

The senior lawyer submitted that the trial court’s judgment was against settled principles of law and notable precedents, adding that the chances of success at the appellate court were very high.

Speaking shortly after filing the motion, Raji, disclosed that the appeal raised three fundamental issues touching on jurisdiction, locus standi and wrongful evaluation of affidavit evidence.

In the motion on notice, dated October 10, 2023, the appellant prayed the court for an order staying execution and/or further execution of the entire judgment and the orders contained in the Judgment of the Court, delivered on October 9, 2023, pending the hearing and final determination of the appeal lodged against the judgment and orders of this court before the Court of Appeal, Abuja.

The former Minister also prayed the court for an injunction, restraining the respondents from implementing and/or giving effect to the Declaratory and Executory Orders contained in the Judgment.

The appellant submitted that Okorowo in his judgment wrongly assumed jurisdiction by delving into the internal affairs of his party, APC, which is a non-justiciable cause of action and thereby occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice.

In addition, he argued that the trial court has a duty to understand the case presented by the parties and apply the law correctly.

In ground two, the former governor said Justice Okorowo erred in law when he wrongly conferred, allowed and adjudicated on the matter when the respondent has no locus standi to initiate or institute the action having confessed not to have participated in the primary election that produced him as the governorship candidate of the APC, thereby occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice against him.

He submitted further that the lower court failed to properly evaluate, determine and pronounce on his notice of preliminary objection challenging the competence of the suit and thereby breached his right to fair hearing as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution.

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the appeal.

Okorowo, in a judgment delivered Monday night, held that Sylva was not qualified for participate in the November 11 governorship election in Bayelsa, on the grounds that he has been sworn- in twice and ruled for five years as governor of Bayelsa State.

It was the position of the judge that allowing Sylva, who was nominated by the APC to contest the governorship poll would amount to breaching the 1999 Constitution.

Meanwhile, Diri, who took a swipe at Sylva, during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign rallies in Ogbia Local Government Area, described him as a serial deceiver that did not deserve the votes of the Bayelsa people.

The PDP governorship campaign train also visited Yiba-Ama (Oruma), Otuasega, Emeyal, Kolo Town and Elebele communities on Monday.

Diri noted that as governor for five years and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources for almost four years, Sylva did not make any meaningful impact in the state but rather deceived the people with phantom projects.

Listing Sylva’s ‘sins’ against people of the state, the governor said as minister, no Bayelsan was allotted an oil block but instead Sylva ensured that the licence of the state’s Atala oilfield was revoked.

According to him, the former governor’s other shortcomings were his deception that he was constructing an airport at Zarama, the failed Brass fertiliser as well as the COVID-19 hospital projects.

His words: “Timipre Sylva is a man you cannot trust. He displaced all those he promised that he would give the governorship ticket and turned around to become the candidate himself.

“A man who said a road from Yenagoa to Nembe was not economically viable. A man who proposed an airport but the site was turned into a ‘seaport’ after sinking in millions of naira of the state’s resources. When the immediate past governor built a very good  airport, Sylva said it was a seaport but today he uses the same airport.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, he deceived me as governor. He said let us go and inaugurate a COVID-19 hospital at Igbogene. In my innocence I followed him. We did the foundation-laying ceremony and that was the end of the project.

“A man who said he was building the Oloibiri oil museum but after deceiving the whole country with a groundbreaking ceremony, the site was abandoned and it is now overtaken by weeds.

“A man who has serially deceived the Bayelsa people. That is why everyone who speaks says this is a fight between light and darkness. There is darkness over them.

“We have tried him, we have tested him and he has failed. We have had many governors in this state but only one governor has been stoned, that is Timipre Sylva. Bayelsans have rejected him and he will remain rejected.”